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Mars Rover
MarsRover

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I've been collecting ideas for building a __[Mars Rover]__. This can easily cost a few thousand dollars and I'm not quite sure yet that I'm willing to fund such a venture, but it's fun to dream (and plan).
[{Image src='attach/MarsRover/Open_Source_Rover_Patch.jpg' link='attach/MarsRover/Open_Source_Rover_Patch.jpg' caption='Open Source Rover Patch (click to enlarge)' width='200' align='right' class='imgFloatRight'}]
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I've been collecting ideas for building a Mars Rover. This can easily cost a few thousand dollars so I'm not quite sure
I'm willing to fund such a venture, but it's fun to dream (and plan).
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I recently came upon a JPL paper that goes into quite a lot of detail about the software controllign the Mars Exploration Rovers (MER), Spirit and Opportunity*. These were the two rovers that landed on Mars in 2004 and ran until 2010 and 2018 (resp.), a very long time past their planned mission of 90 days. This is probably the most detailed description I've found of a NASA rover's software.
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* ''[The Mars Exploration Rover Surface Mobility Flight Software: Driving Ambition|https://www-robotics.jpl.nasa.gov/publications/Mark_Maimone/biesiadecki_maimone06.pdf]'' \\ Jeffrey J. Biesiadecki and Mark W. Maimone, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA USA \\
[https://trs.jpl.nasa.gov/bitstream/handle/2014/40221/06-0060.pdf] (alternate link) \\
[https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/1655723] (if you are an IEEE member)
The paper's abstract is:
%%blockquote
In this paper we describe the software that has driven these rovers
more than a combined 11,000 meters over the Martian surface,
including its design and implementation, and summarize current
mobility performance results from Mars.
%%
__ Contents __
# Introduction
# MER Flight Software Architecture
# Mobility Manager Software
# Low-Level Driving
# Autonomous Driving
#* Primary Autonomous Capabilities
#* Terrain Assessment Overview
#* Robust Stereo Image Processing
#* Terrain Assessment
Another related document from the same team is Chapter 3 of "Intelligence
for Space Robotics":
* ''Surface Navigation and Mobility Intelligence on the Mars Exploration Rovers'', \\ Mark Maimone, Jeffrey Biesiadecki, Edward Tunstel, Yang Cheng, Chris Leger, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, USA \\ [https://www-robotics.jpl.nasa.gov/publications/Mark_Maimone/05_Chapter3_final.pdf]
This also goes into the mechanics of the rocker-bogie suspension, use of sensors, basic mobility and control modes, autonomous navigation, path selection, etc.
If one were to use a stereo camera like the [RealSense T265|RealSenseT265] (rather than motor encoders) for odometry, here's a paper by, again, some of the same authors:
!!! Design Notes
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* ''[Two Years of Visual Odometry on the Mars Exploration Rovers|https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/rob.20184]'' \\ Mark Maimone, Yang Cheng, and Larry Matthies, Field Report, \\ Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA
So far I've been scanning the cool robot parts at [ServoCity|https://www.servocity.com/motion/] for ideas for the steering mechanism and rocker arms. The scale and weight of the overall robot help decide the size/power of the motors and servos. It's a bit of a balancing act. I also want to, unlike most of the "civilian" designs, somehow tuck my motors inside the wheels or otherwise not have them hanging down near the ground as many/most of the rovers I've seen seem to do.
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Admittedly, that one is way over my head, but interesting.
An easier read is:
* [The Mars Robot Making Decisions on Its Own|https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/06/mars-curiosity-rover/531339/] \\ Thanks to artificial-intelligence software, the Curiosity rover can target rocks without human input. \\
[Marina Koren|https://www.theatlantic.com/author/marina-koren/], ''The Atlantic'', 24 June 2017
!!! Design Notes
[{Image src='attach/MarsRover/Open_Source_Rover_Patch.jpg' link='attach/MarsRover/Open_Source_Rover_Patch.jpg' caption='Open Source Rover Patch (click to enlarge)' width='120' align='right' class='imgFloatRight'}]
%%information
One thing that __almost__ goes without saying: the vast majority of the hobbyist Mars Rovers I've found are, despite being very complicated and often expensive mechanisms, they are almost without fail toys, [remote-controlled vehicles|RemoteControlledVehicle], and only rarely qualify as __[Telerobotics]__. Very few have operational sensors, and so far (I'm trying to think...) none of them I've seen are __autonomous robots__, or even semi-autonomous. Put it this way, if you've built an autonomous Mars rover, contact me and I'll put a link or a description or a page up about it.
%%
So far I've been scanning the cool robot parts at [ServoCity|https://www.servocity.com/motion/] for ideas for the [steering] mechanism and rocker arms. The scale and weight of the overall robot help decide the size/power of the motors and servos. It's a bit of a balancing act. I also want to, unlike most of the "civilian" designs, somehow tuck my motors inside the wheels or otherwise not have them hanging down near the ground as many/most of the rovers I've seen seem to do.
I'm likely to try to build a rover a bit smaller than some I've seen on the Web — but not toy size — something using the same motor controllers I've used on my other robots, maybe 22mm or 25mm diameter motors with stall currents around 5 amps. The next step up from there and we're talking much larger motors, beefier controllers, larger batteries, etc. ''Too large'', especially for my budget.
[{Image src='attach/MarsRover/km01-design.png' link='attach/MarsRover/km01-design.png' caption='Preliminary Desing (click to enlarge)' width='300' align='left' class='imgFloatLeft'}]
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[{Image src='attach/MarsRover/km01-design.png' link='attach/MarsRover/km01-design.png' caption='Preliminary Desing (click to enlarge)' width='300' align='right' class='imgFloatRight'}]
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\\
----
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I've analysed the various options but am not convinced of a suitable set of components, so I've ordered the parts for __1/6th of the drive system__: i.e., one motor, several wheel/tire options, a __ServoBlock__ (a steering servo with mounting brackets), a bearing assembly for a rocker arm, and an assortment of possible structural hardware to put it all together. The ''shipping charge'' for the order was US$120. Ouch. I'll probably blog about things when the parts come in and I've had some time to play.
[{Image src='attach/MarsRover/servoblock_on_servo.jpg' link='attach/MarsRover/servoblock_on_servo.jpg' caption='ServoBlock (click to enlarge)' width='200' align='left' class='imgFloatLeft'}]
I've analysed the various options but am not convinced of a suitable set of components, so I've ordered
the parts for __1/6th of the drive system__: i.e., one motor, several wheel/tire options, a steering servo with mount, a bearing assembly for a rocker arm, and an assortment of possible structural hardware to put it all together. The shipping charge fo rth order was US$120. Ouch. I'll probably blog about things when the parts come in and I've had some time to play.
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[{Image src='attach/MarsRover/osepp-tank-wheel.jpg' link='attach/MarsRover/osepp-tank-wheel.jpg' caption='A "Tank Wheel" (click to enlarge)' width='300' align='right' class='imgFloatRight'}]
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[{Image src='attach/MarsRover/osepp-tank-wheel.jpg' link='attach/MarsRover/osepp-tank-wheel.jpg' caption='A "Tank Wheel" (click to enlarge)' width='300' align='right' class='imgFloatRight'}]
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| 2 | 12V max CXT® Power Source w/ USB port (YL00000003) | $95.00 | $190.00 | | Toolshed Petone | [https://www.makitatools.com/products/details/YL00000003]
| 2 | 12V max CXT® Power Source w/ USB port (YL000000003) | $95.00 | $190.00 | | Toolshed Petone | [https://www.makitatools.com/products/details/YL00000003]
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* [Mars Exploration Rover|https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Exploration_Rover] on Wikipedia
* [Sojourner Project Home Page|https://mars.nasa.gov/MPF/rover/sojourner.html] (~1996, JPL)
** [A Description of the Rover Sojourner|https://mars.nasa.gov/MPF/rover/descrip.html]
** [Rover Telecommunications Photo Gallery|https://mars.nasa.gov/MPF/rovercom/pix.html]
** [Mars Pathfinder Microrover Publications|https://mars.nasa.gov/MPF/roverctrlnav/publications.html]
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* [NASA's Rover Page|https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/spacecraft/rover/]
* [In-situ Exploration and Sample Return: \\ Autonomous Planetary Mobility|https://mars.nasa.gov/mer/mission/technology/autonomous-planetary-mobility/], NASA
* [The Mars Exploration Rover surface mobility flight software driving ambition|https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/The-Mars-Exploration-Rover-surface-mobility-flight-Biesiadecki-Maimone/e84d3a62d4de4c59b8a2525bc797e02665055728?p2df], JPL paper ([alternative link|https://www-robotics.jpl.nasa.gov/publications/Mark_Maimone/biesiadecki_maimone06.pdf])
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* [Design and Analysis of a Four Wheeled Planetary Rover|http://library.iyte.edu.tr/tezler/master/makinamuh/t000341.pdf], Masters Thesis, Matthew J. Roman, Norman, Oklahoma 2005 (PDF)
* [Rocker-Bogie tagged articles|https://hackaday.com/tag/rocker-bogie/] on Hackaday
* ''Give your Robot the Mobility Control of a real Mars Rover'', by Bill Marshall (DesignSpark):
** [Part 1|https://www.rs-online.com/designspark/give-your-robot-the-mobility-control-of-a-real-mars-rover-part-1], covers the theory behind PID control
** [Part 2|https://www.rs-online.com/designspark/give-your-robot-the-mobility-control-of-a-real-mars-rover-part-2|https://www.rs-online.com/designspark/give-your-robot-the-mobility-control-of-a-real-mars-rover-part-2], discusses the practical issues of odometry and using PID for precise mobile robot navigation
** [Part 3|https://www.rs-online.com/designspark/give-your-robot-the-mobility-control-of-a-real-mars-rover-part-3], look at some more code and other features of practical rover design
** [Part 4|https://www.rs-online.com/designspark/give-your-robot-the-mobility-control-of-a-real-mars-rover-part-4], Wheeled robots take many forms: 2-, 3-, 4-, 6- or 8-wheels, with and without suspension. The type of terrain the robot will move over largely determines the choice: a nice, smooth warehouse floor or a rough, unpredictable Martian surface?
! Rover Examples
[{Image src='https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jakkra/Mars-Rover/master/.github/driving.gif' link='https://github.com/jakkra/Mars-Rover/blob/master/.github/driving.gif' caption='Mars Rover by Jakob Krantz' width='300' align='right' class='imgFloatRight'}]
* [Replica Mars Rover Curiosity outside the lab... exploring the real world...|https://youtu.be/rZESgtjL0B0] YouTube video of scale model of NASA Mars Rover using ServoCity Actobotics parts, Pololu motors, etc. Built by [Carlos Sicilia Til|https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIgnjQmL78DlHMuank2THLg] who indicates his servos as: 4kg.cm wheel servo. Arm servos: 25kg.cm at shoulder, 4kg.cm at elbow and 1.5kg.cm at tool holder.
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* [Build a ‘real’ Mars rover|https://www.rs-online.com/designspark/build-a-real-mars-rover], describes building a 4tronix M.A.R.S. rover kit
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* [Sawppy the Rover|https://hackaday.io/project/158208-sawppy-the-rover], Motorized model of Mars rovers Curiosity and Perseverance For Under $500 (uses 3D printed parts and extruded aluminum beams)
* [Mars Rover part 1|https://youtu.be/kuLRMul_Pxo] by Peter Ohlmus
* [The Open Source Mars Rover, One Year Later|https://hackaday.com/2020/07/02/the-open-source-mars-rover-one-year-later/] by Jakob Krantz (on Hackaday), uses LoRa to communicate with the (human) controller, with [open source code|https://github.com/jakkra/Mars-Rover] on github; he uses a separate 12v-5v switching voltage regulator for each servo (!) and outlines the hardware in more detail on the github page
* [Design and Analysis of a Four Wheeled Planetary Rover|http://library.iyte.edu.tr/tezler/master/makinamuh/t000341.pdf], Masters Thesis, Matthew J. Roman, Norman, Oklahoma 2005 (PDF)
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For not only a Mars Rover but other designs, a bit old (circa 2013) but interesting, see the [Actobot Blog|https://beatty-robotics.com/actobot/] from __[Beatty Robotics|https://beatty-robotics.com/]__. Their gallery alone is worth the visit.
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This page (revision-55) was last changed on 2024-05-30 22:30 by Murray AltheimTop